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Chapter 8
The five Akatsuki sat in the sitting room of the hotel they were staying in. It had been six hours since the extraction had happened, but they were all still drained.
"I think I want to tell you guys my story." Ari said simply, but in those words she gained the attention of all four men. They had agreed to let Ari be and not ask her for information until she was ready to tell them. The near death experience had made Ari realize that she wanted to tell the ones close to her, why she was the way she was. She trusted them with her life, and was ready to tell her story.
"My mother was a professional dancer, working for a ballet company out of New York City. New York is a huge city, full of strange people and lots of artists. She was the prima ballerina for several years. It was while she was on stage, she met my father. Dad was a pianist for the New York symphony, and probably the best pianist that ever has been in New York. They met through a mutual friend and fell deeply in love. They were so in love that they married only after a month after they first started dating. One day mother was dancing, rehearsing for a new show when she fell off the stage. She broke her leg, and her career was ended. Dad didn't care though; he quit the symphony and moved him and mom to a small town in northern Ohio, Winstead. Soon after, mom found out she was pregnant with me, and they were so happy." She paused, clearing her throat before she continued. "Soon after I was born they noticed that I was not like them. I was unusually bright for a baby, and was walking and talking far before normal children my age. My parents just thought that I was a genius, and looked forward to the future, to see what I would be capable of. They found out when I was three.
I was playing with my dolls when I first thought to play with daddy's piano. I climbed up on the stool and ran my fingers over the smooth keys. I started pressing on the keys, making no normal sound at first, but then it slowly became a song, a very complex song. Mom thought Dad had come home early and went to greet him, she saw me playing and knew at once that I was more than a baby. She told my dad that she thought I was like Mozart, a child prodigy, a music genius. Dad wasn't too sure, but he agreed to help me with my music. By the time I was six, I surpassed my father and I was going on to win national and international piano competitions. It was then, my dad started drinking, and my mom became depressed." Tears started pooling in Ari's eyes. "I offered to stop playing, to be a normal kid, but my mom would have none of it. She said it was my duty to show the world my gift." She laughed bitterly. "It was really my curse. On my seventh birthday, I was getting ready for a recital, my dad was nowhere to be seen, but mom promised that he would come later. We took a cab to the competition and I began my piece. I looked up after I played my last note, and saw my father in the back of the auditorium. He smiled weakly at me and waved for me to come over to him. I was so happy he came; I jumped up from the piano stand, through the clapping crowd and into my father's arms." She paused. "He was drunk. Very, very drunk and he told me to get my mother and meet him by the car. I told mom that he was outside, and he was waiting for us. She started yelling at him for being drunk at his daughter's recital, and he grabbed her and me and threw us in the car. I started crying and my mom pleaded with him to not drive, but he wouldn't listen. He smacked my mom in the face, and screamed at me for being a freak, for being a bad girl." She willed herself to stop crying and be strong. "They didn't notice that I didn't put my seatbelt on. My mom buckled hers, and my dad managed to get his on between screaming at my mom for being a whore and creating a monster. He didn't see the stop sign, he didn't see the school bus full of the high school football players. I screamed, mom screamed, dad laughed and we hit the bus with so much force, I was ejected from the car and into the road. The bus and my parent's car went over the cliff. No one survived, but me. I only had a broken arm, and a few scratches. My parents, sixteen football players, two coaches, and a bus driver were killed, and the whole town blamed me. I became an orphan, an unwanted one, and I changed. I wasn't my parent's Ane anymore, my curly blonde hair turned into straight light brown hair, my blue eyes turned a strange shade of violet, and I became Ari. I never understood why I changed, or even how, but when I was fighting Anna, I realized that Ane died with my parents. The innocent, girl with a strange power for playing the piano became a sad girl who was hated by most of the people around her.
There were times when people would try and hurt me, but I would be able to push them away with so much force, I would hurt them. The kids learned not to pick on my when I broke one girl's shoulder from pushing her." She looked up to her friends. "And that is my story."
For a few minutes the others were quiet, trying to absorb what she had told them.
"Your villagers were fools, you were just a child." Sasori said at last. Kisame nodded his head in agreement.
"Your father was wrong; you are not a monster, yeah." Deidara moved closer to her, squeezing her hand comfortingly. Itachi remained silent, although his eyes looked at her softer than usual.
She dried her tears and smiled warmly at her companions.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get ready for battle soldiers." She smiled and saluted her companions who smiled at her.
They regained at least most of their chakra in peace, and cleaned their weapons. The night of the full moon had come, and the civilians were sent into hiding, while the Akatsuki and the Leaf shinobi stood at arms at the gates.
Thirty masked Order ninja were advancing slowly, in the lead was the Siren. They brought with them a blanket of silence that stretched through the forest. Every cricket, every frog, every owl became silent, and the Order was moving as one. It was as if they were all one person, split and divided several times. They stopped at the gates, the Shinobi and Akatsuki moved forward to meet them.
"Give us the Kyuubi." The siren hissed.
"Never." Ari growled. And the battle was on.
A/N: short chapter, but a lot to digest. I will update sometime tomorrow if I can! Please read and review, it makes me a happy writer, and happy writers move chapters out more quickly.
